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Famous Siblings in Sport

By Gur Tirosh

During the 1960 Olympics in Rome, the Press sisters became the first siblings to win gold medals in the same Olympiad. Irina, the younger of the two sisters, equaled the then 10.6-second Olympic record in her 80m hurdle semifinal heat, and then won a gold medal in the final. Tamara won a silver medal in the discus throw, and also a gold medal in the shot put in an Olympic record distance of 17.32 m. In celebration of this event, let’s take a look at the history of famous siblings who have made feat in sports.

Serena and Venus Williams

The Williams sisters are two of the best women tennis players in the world. At an early age, the sisters were coached by their father, Richard Williams. Venus Williams, the older of the two sisters, is a seven-time Grand Slam title winner (singles), while Serena Williams is a twenty three-time Grand Slam title winner. They became the first two players in both the male and female categories to compete in 4 consecutive Grand Slam singles finals from the 2002 French Open to the 2003 Australian Open.

(Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Serena and Williams won 4 gold medals at the Summer Olympic Games, each winning 1 in the singles, and 3 in the doubles. Venus also won a silver medal in mixed doubles at the 2016 Rio Olympics. As a pair, they also completed the Career Golden Slam in doubles twice. Between 2000 and 2016, Serena won 7 Wimbledon singles titles, while Venus won 5. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics, they also won 2 Olympic Gold medals. The sisters have repeatedly held top 2 singles and doubles spots in the world rankings.